1918] The Ottawa Naturalist 19 



THE EVENING GROSBEAK (Hesperiphona vespertina) at ARNPRIOR. ONT. 



By a. L. Gormley. 



During the past few years bird-lovers of eastern 

 Canada and the north-eastern United States have 

 enjoyed an annual winter visit from the Evening 

 Grosbeak, one of the most interesting and most 

 beautiful species of our boreal birds. For five con- 

 secutive years, from 1912-13 to 1916-17, it was a 

 regular winter resident at Arnprior, sometimes 

 coming in large numbers, and I had every opportun- 

 ity of observing and studying its habits. I distinctly 

 remember having seen the Evening Grosbeak before 

 1912, but being a boy at that time, I had not suffi- 

 cient interest in birds to keep records of their going 

 and coming. During the winter, when avian life is 

 little in evidence, the beautiful plumage and robin- 

 like call of the Evening Grosbeak is sufficient to 

 attract the attention of the most unobservant person, 

 and many were the explanations given for their 

 presence at this season, when all birds are commonly 

 supposed to be happily sojourning in the sunny 

 south, free from scarcity-of-fuel problems. One 

 man who spoke to me about them, even went so far 

 as to say that he thought they were European birds 

 driven from their native home by the war; while 

 another stated that he was certain the birds of this 

 country had greatly changed since the time he was a 

 boy. Such distinguished visitors at once gained the 

 good-will of all nature-lovers and several people 

 succeeded in getting them to come to their bird 

 "cafeterias" to feed. 



While here they feed almost exclusively on the 

 fruit of the Manitoba maple {Negundo aceroides) 

 and occasionally visit the sumacs. They eat a lot 

 of snow, and I have often seen them fly to the rain- 

 gutters on houses, presumably looking for water. 

 Although they are somewhat pugnacious during the 

 winter, they become much more so when spring 

 arrives. At this season they also become much 

 livelier and spend considerable time flying after one 

 another, generally the males after the females. 

 Compared to the Hermit Thrush or some of our 

 more brilliant songsters, I have never heard anything 

 from the Evening Grosbeak that could properly be 

 called a song, but during the month of May especi- 

 ally, they certainly make a lot of noise, the whole 

 flock usually "singing" together. Following the 

 general rule, however, in regard to bright plumaged 

 birds, it seems that nature has not endowed them 

 with any great gift of song. As the snow disappears, 

 they eagerly search the ground for bits of gravel, 

 etc., and should a pool of water be near at hand, 

 they will often be found clustered about its edge, 

 merrily drinking and bathing, as, like most birds, 

 they are very fond of water. By the first of May, 



they are generally all mated, and they then forsake 

 the maples for the evergreens, preferably the cedars, 

 where they spend much time chattering noisily, as if 

 discussing the hardships of the past winter. Al- 

 though they still remain in flocks, each male now 

 keeps close watch over his mate, so that the pairs 

 tend to keep more by themselves, especially when 

 feeding. Last spring, when they remained until 

 May 21, I had strong hopes that they would breed 

 here, since so far as I know, the nidification habits 

 of the species are as yet a mystery; but they all 

 suddenly left and none have appeared since. 



It seems to be a general rule with our winter 

 migrants, that, after visiting the east in increasing 

 numbers for a few years, they suddenly reach a 

 period of maximum abundance, after which they 

 practically disappear, for some time. Such seems 

 to be the case with the Evening Grosbeak. During 

 the winter of 1916-17, they were very abundant 

 here, and were reported from many places in 

 Ontario and the northern United States. During 

 the past winter, however, they have been entirely 

 absent, although as far as this district is concerned, 

 their favorite food has been plentiful. They may, of 

 course, re-appear next winter, but it is quite probable 

 that they will not be seen here for a few years to 

 come. 



The following is a list of the dates of arrival and 

 departure, etc., for the past five years: 



1912-13. Arrived December 31 and soon be- 

 came common. During January and February 

 several large flocks were seen, but they gradually 

 diminished in numbers, until only twelve were ob- 

 served on March 2. These remained until May 5, 

 when they all left. 



1913-14. Arrived on November 16, when four 

 were seen. Gradually increased in numbers, until 

 twenty were observed on January 4th. Remained 

 common until May 1 . 



1914-15. Very few were seen this winter. Three 

 arrived on January 12, and eleven were seen on 

 February 3. According to my notes they were 

 absent until April 5, when three appeared. None 

 were seen after this. 



1915-16. This was another off-year. Although 

 sixteen arrived on December 5, the largest flock seen 

 after this was five, but they remained until May 20. 

 1916-17 More Evening Grosbeaks visited Arn- 

 prior this winter than ever before, perhaps more 

 than in the preceding four years together. On 

 October 29, the earliest date on record, fifteen 

 arrived. They steadily increased in numbers until 

 December 24, when at least sixty were seen. Dur- 



